


He who is hunted should keep no secrets

by iantosgal



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Minor Violence, powerless Cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-23
Updated: 2013-06-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 22:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/854762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iantosgal/pseuds/iantosgal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel kept his problem a secret and now he’s trapped in a warehouse with five angels. Can Dean save him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	He who is hunted should keep no secrets

**Author's Note:**

> Set just after The Song Remains the Same.

Castiel hadn’t been lying when he said he was hunted. There has been so many times since he had been brought back to life that he had to fight, kill other angels to stay alive. There had been times when he had had to flee when there were too many for him to beat.

But that had been when he was stronger. Now, after the trip into the past after Anna, he was weak. He had spent several days with Sam and Dean, trying to build up his strength. But apart from returning to them he hadn’t been able to fly since. His ‘mojo’ was seriously lacking. He had been so powerless since then and finally he left, late at night whilst the brothers slept so they didn’t realise he had taken a cab and would assume he had flown.

He had barely been in contact with them since. He didn’t want them to know how…human he was. So he pretended nothing was wrong when they called, made out he was fine when they asked and cut the call as quickly as he could, returning to his lonely and bitterly uncertain existence.

Finally he bucked up the courage to see the brothers and phoned them. Once he had their location, he told them he had a few things to take care of and would meet them in their motel room. He then went to get a train, cursing once more his inability to simply ‘zap’ to them.

He knocked softly on the door and was greeted by a rather bemused Dean who looked at him as if he was crazy for knocking.

“Why didn’t you zap straight in?” Dean asked.

“I’m trying to give you more of that personal space you are always asking me for,” Castiel said before breezing past him into the room.

“Where have you been, man?”

“Around.”

“Well, we’re glad you’re here,” Sam said, “We could really use your help.”

Castiel sighed, there was an opening, right there, to tell them what was going on with him, but he didn’t.

“What have you got?”

Thankfully, it was a simple demonic possession. Well, fairly simple. It was a demon nest and they had two possible locations.

“If me and Sammy take the barn and you take the warehouse? See if there’s any sign of them.”

Castiel simply nodded and left the motel room without another word. He had to get to the warehouse. He made his way to the bus station and hoped that neither of the brothers saw him.

He reached the warehouse and found nothing. No signs of demons, no sulphur, nothing. He did one more thorough check just in case he had missed something but he hadn’t.

It was as he went to leave, he suddenly tensed at a quiet flutter of wings.

Of course, it would be while he was in this weakened state, where he barely had the strength of an angel let alone anything else, that she would happen to find him.

Marlena.

One of the most feared angels in the garrison Castiel had belonged too. And she had finally been unleashed on him. He caught a glimpse of her before he ran round the corner, pressing himself flat against the wall.

She spoke and he heard four sets of footsteps spread out and began to search. For him.

He pressed into the wall as much as he could, wishing he had the use of his wings.

His phone rang.

The ringtone sounded extra shrill in the silence and Castiel flinched, digging into his pocket he grabbed the phone and answered the call as he ran to hide behind a stack of boxes.

“Dean?” he whispered.

“Cas? What’s going on?”

“You could not have called at a worse time.”

“Shit. Did you find the demons?”

“No. Worse.”

“Worse?”

“Angels.”

There was a silence.

“Angels? How many?”

“Five. One of them…Dean, she could kill me on her own. Easily.”

“Ok, ok don’t panic. Just zap out of there and we’ll leave town.”

“I can’t.”

“What?”

Castiel sighed.

“Dean, I haven’t been able to fly or anything since we went back in time.”

“You serious?”

“Deadly.”

“Ok, shit, ok we’re on our way. Just stay hidden until we can get you out.”

Castiel cut the call and put the phone in his pocket. He was terrified. He needed to find a better place to hide. He checked the coast was clear and then quickly stood.

Only to come face to face with an angel. An angel he knew.

“Nathaniel.”

“Hello Castiel. It’s been a long time.”

“It has.”

“We’ve been looking for you.”

“You’ve found me.”

“Yes, we have.” The statement was punctured with a hard punch to Castiel’s face. “It’s been a long journey, brother”, a punch to Castiel’s stomach that brought him to his knees, “but the end is in sight.”

One last punch and Castiel lay sprawled on the ground, blood running down his face. He spat blood out of his mouth and looked up at Nathaniel who was studying him, head tilted to one side.

“What happened to you, brother?” Nathaniel asked.

“I chose the right path.”

With that Castiel pushed himself quickly onto his feet, drawing his knife with one swift movement and plunged the blade into Nathaniel’s chest.

The angel’s eyes widened and Castiel yanked his weapon free, leaving Nathaniel to topple backwards. He ran then, ran as the blinding light filled the room, ran from yet another of his brothers he had killed, ran from the beacon that would bring the other angels straight to him.

He found another set of boxes to hide behind and heard the rustle of wings as the angels found the dead vessel of Nathaniel.

Marlena’s voice was sweet and sing song when she spoke.

“Castiel? Where are you? Come on out, brother. Come out and say hello.”

Castiel closed his eyes, praying to his Father that they wouldn’t find him.

As usual his Father ignored his pleas and when he opened his eyes Marlena was looking down at him, head tilted to the side.

“There you are.”

She threw out her arm and Castiel was flung through the boxes, almost the entire length of the warehouse, coming to a halt at the feet of the remaining angels.

Two of the grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him roughly to his feet, whilst the third took position in front of Castiel.

This angels punches were hard, harder than Nathaniel’s, and Castiel fought to stay alert, fought to keep trying to find a way out of this predicament.

Marlena was talking, that sing song voice filling his ears, and yet he could only understand the occasional word.

Betrayer. Scum. Weakling. Disgrace. Love. Dean. Are you in love with Dean Winchester, brother? Are you? You make me sick.

Every word was punctured by that harsh, unforgiving fist and each word felt like a stab to his gut. Everything hurt and he was losing himself. He clung to an image of Dean. Was he in love with Dean? He didn’t know. He didn’t know if he could love.

Dean.

Maybe he did.

If he did, he was damn well going to fight to cling on to that. He had lost everything, sacrificed everything for Dean. He wasn’t about to make everything he had been through worthless.

He did love Dean, it was why he did everything he did. He had to hang on, had to tell Dean, that’s what his whole journey was about.

And so, when the next punch fell, Castiel threw his body backwards with all his might, shocking the two angels who held him. Their grip loosened as they all fell the floor and Castiel managed to get a hand on his knife.

With two swift movements he killed them before turning his attention to the third.

He didn’t know how he was still standing, let alone fighting, but he carried on, finding the energy from somewhere to dodge the angels blows before finally, mercifully, he plunged the blade into the angels throat.

That only left Marlena.

He turned to find her staring at him with hatred burning in her eyes.

She was on him in seconds, her hand pressed to his forehead, she was chanting and Castiel panicked. She was trying to rip him from his vessel. He had been through that once and it was not an experience he wished to go through again. He knew where she would send him and the thought of prison, up there, made his blood run cold. He tried to get away, tried not to scream as he felt the burn in his body, as the light began to pour from his eyes, his mouth. It hurt. More than anything, and it would only get worse, Castiel knew.

And suddenly it stopped. Marlena’s eyes were wide and a thin strip of silver was protruding from her throat. She choked slightly and then Dean’s face appeared at her shoulder.

“You let him go, you son of a bitch.”

Marlena fell to the ground as Dean wrenched the knife away and then the light began to burn bright, making Dean and Sam cover their eyes, before there was a violent burst and then nothing but two humans and half an angel, surrounded by empty vessels.

“Cas?”

Castiel lay panting on the ground. He felt Dean’s fingers brushing gently across his bruised and bloodied face, cupping his cheek and turning to face him slightly.

“Shit, Cas, look at what they did to you.” He turned to face his brother. “We need to get him out of here.”

Together, the Winchesters gently pulled the angel to his feet and helped him across the warehouse.

“Wait.” Castiel’s voice was thick, choked with blood which he spat out onto the floor.

They had reached the body of Nathaniel’s vessel.

Castiel pulled away from them slightly and staggered towards the prone figure. He tumbled to his knees near the bodies head and realised that hot tears were coursing down his cheeks. He reached out to stroke a stray lock of hair away from the mans, boys, face and he sobbed.

Nathaniel had been a good friend before. They had fought together for so many years. It was like Uriel all over again. Every friend he had ever had had turned against him, tried to kill him. Every single one. All except Dean and Sam. And he guessed Bobby was almost a friend by extension.

Times had changed. What he had known before was not his anymore. He would never again know that sense of belonging that he had felt when he was in Heaven, with his brothers and sisters. He had no idea who or what he was anymore. Too human to be an angel, too angel to be a human. He was something in between.

He found solace in this strange group of humans. Dean. Sam. Bobby.

Perhaps it was time for Castiel to think about what he had and not what he had lost. Perhaps there was still God, perhaps God didn’t give a shit anymore.

But right now, he was in pain, physically and emotionally, and he needed his friends, his family.

Which is why he made no protest as Dean and Sam helped him back to his feet and out to the Impala.

*~*~*~*

Dean watched the sleeping angel and felt his gut clench. He could not get the image of that bitch trying to take Cas away from him out of his mind. Couldn’t stop the sobbing figure of Cas from seeping into his conscious and he couldn’t stop thinking about the blood and the bruises.

That’s why he had given up on sleep. He simply sat in the chair watching Cas’s battered face as he slept.

He should have noticed. Should never have sent Cas off on his own. Dean should have been there.

Things hadn’t been right since they got back from the past and Dean knew that. Cas had stayed around a lot longer than normal, it had taken him so much longer to get to them than it should have done. But Dean hadn’t questioned it. He should have known Cas’s wings were fucked. But he didn’t, because he was too wrapped up in his own shit. As per usual.

Something stirred inside him as he thought about how close they, he, had come to losing the angel, his friend, his…well, that was just it. Dean wasn't sure how to finish that sentance. Dean felt something for Cas. He didn’t know what, but after today he knew it was more then friendship.

He wanted to hold him in his arms, kiss him and tell him everything would be ok. He wanted to protect him from the world, from Heaven and from Hell. He wanted to love him.

The only other person he had wanted to protect so much was Sam and, yeah, he loved his brother. But this, this was different.

He sighed and let his head fall back against the seat, allowing his eyes to slide shut. As soon as he did, images of a broken and bloody Cas filled his vision and his eyes snapped open, hand brushing brusquely across his eyes.

A moan from the bed told him Cas was awake. Dean got to his feet and sat on the edge of the mattress giving in to temptation and taking one of Cas’s hands gently in his.

“Cas?”

“Hello Dean.”

Dean had to smile.

“How you doing?”

Cas raised an eyebrow and then winced at the movement.

“Yeah, stupid question I know.”

Cas looked into his eyes and Dean was almost knocked back by the raw emotion there.

Cas’s eyes were normally filled with wisdom, with an ancient air, often with confusion and at times with anger. Once or twice Dean had seen mirth but that was rare.

Now. Now, Dean saw hurt, an infinite sadness that pulled at his heart strings, grief, fear and…love?

“Cas?” Dean’s forehead creased as he took it all in. His voice was filled with worry.

“Dean. I…I…” Cas swallowed, “I am tired. Of Heaven, of Hell, of this fight, of this so called life, of…everything. I don’t know what is right and what is wrong anymore. I don’t even know who I am.”

“I know who you are. You’re Cas, the only un-dickish angel I have ever, and will ever, meet. You are brave and strong and you can do this. You’re not alone Cas. Me and Sam, we’ve got your back. Just keep us in the loop and you’ll be fine. If I can do this, you can, Cas.”

There was a glimmer of a smile on Cas’s lips and Dean saw hope in his eyes.

“Who was that guy? The one you cried over?”

As soon as the words were out of Dean’s mouth he wanted to kick himself. The smile was gone, the hope replaced with sorrow.

“He was a friend. Once. At the end, he was an enemy. His name was Nathaniel. I fought along side him for many years, in the original war with Lucifer. We were close. I know I had to kill him, but it hurts, Dean. He was my brother, my friend. Uriel, Anna, Nathaniel. They have all turned against me, they are all dead. I have lost everything.” The angel paused. “But I would do it all again. I would do it for you, Dean.”

Cas’s eyes seemed to burn into Dean’s very soul and he felt his resolve to keep things simply platonic between them falter and then break.

He laid himself down on the bed beside the angel, pulling him gently into his arms and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

He didn’t miss the easy way Cas complied, how the angels arms snaked around Dean’s waist. He smiled as Cas looked up at him, love shining brightly in those blue orbs. He smiled even more when Cas pressed their lips gently together.

Cas settled on his chest, neither feeling the need for more words and that was how Sam found them when he returned. Both sleeping peacefully, wrapped around each other and Sam smiled.


End file.
